Game-board



PATENTBD JAN. 26, 1904,

W. E. BUTLER. GAME BOARD. l 'APPLIGATION FILED SEPT. ao, 1903.

No MODEL` Illlllll Allllll( Patented January 26, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM E. BUTLER, 'OF `MILLERSBB(Jr, KENTUCKY.

GAME-BOARD.

SPECIFICATION forming' part of Letters Patent No. 750,346, dated January 26, 1904. Application' flied september so, 1903. serai No. 1475,182. (No model.)

To if/ZZ whom i1; may concern.-

Be it known that I. VILLIAM E. BUTLER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Millersburg, in the county of Bourbon and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Game-Board, of which the following is a specilication.

This invention relates to an im proved gameboard.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive, and amusing device of this character having' upon one side of the board a croquet-field in miniature and upon the reverse side thereof a centrally-disposed pocket or chamber adapted to receive a ball or similar projectile when properly directed therein.

The invention 'consistsw in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended, it being understood that various changes in form, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of this, invention.

In the accompanying' drawings, Figure l is a top plan view of a game-board constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view on the line 3 3 of Fig. l, and Fig. 4 is a similar view on the line 44 of Fig. 2.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

1 designates the game-board, which may be of any desired form or contour, being prefer- 3, as shown, forming a vertically-disposed peripheral wall 6, entirely surrounding said board. The head 2 represents acroquet-field in miniature, the wickets 6 and thestakes 7 of which are arranged in the usual manner, being driven through the head 2 and into rein forcing-strips 8, secured in any suitable manner to the under side of said head. A ball or shot 9 is used in playing the game, the object being to cause the ball or shot to roll from one stake through the several wickets to the opposite stake by tilting or otherwise manipulating the board. The convex side of the bottom 3 has painted, stamped, or otherwise imprinted upon the central portion thereofa ligure representing a frog, the eye of the frog being formed by cutting' an opening or orifice lO therein, as shown. Secured to the central reinforcing-strip 1l isa preferably circular compartment or chamber 12, which communicates with the openingor oriice 10, the object of said chamber being to receive the ball or shot 9 when the same is properly directed therein, as will be more fully explained hereinafter. The peripheral wall 6 is preferably reinforced above the head 2 and below the bottom 3 by a circular strip 12', so as to strengthen said wall and receive the impact of the shot or ball as the saine rolls from one side of the board to the other.

In playing the game of croquet the board is held in the hand and tilted or otherwise manipulated, causing the ball to roll through the several wickets.

The device may be used as a puzzle by reversing the board, the object being to direct the ball through the frogs eye or opening l0 Ainto the chamber 1Q.

From the foregoing description it will be seen I have provided an exceedingly simple, durable,and inexpensive game-board having oppositely-disposed playing-fields, so that by simply reversing the board either maybe used.

Having thus described the invention, whatl I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

l. A gaine-board comprising a pair of heads forming oppositely-disposed playing-fields, a spacing-strip secured to the heads and dehning an intermediate compartment, a centrally- IOO disposed chamber arranged within the compartment, and a reinforced marginal wall secured to the heads and extending above and below the same, one of said heads being concavo-convex and provided with a central opening communicating with the chamber.

2. A game-board comprising a pair of spaced heads forming oppositely-disposed playingiields, a central chamber interposed between the heads, one of said heads being concavoconvex and provided with a central opening communicating with said chamber and the opposite head having reinforcing-strips secured to the bottom thereof, a plurality of staples or wickets arranged to represent a croquetfield passing through said head and reinforcing-strips, and a circular Wall secured to the heads and extending above both of the same.

3. A game-board comprising a pair of spaced heads forming oppositely-disposed playingelds and defining an intermediate compartment, a plurality of reinforcingstrips ar ranged within the compartment and secured to one of said heads, a central chamber secured to one of the reinforcing-strips and in communication with the opposite head, acircular strip extending above both heads and forming an annular wall, said wall being secured to the heads and reinforced above the same, and wickets or staples passing through one of the heads and secured to the reinforcing-strips.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto ailixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM E. BUTLER. Witnesses J. A. BUTLER, MARY L. BoULDEN. 

